Day 10-11 The looooong ride home

We are DONE IN THE CAR!

There's a reason why I always tried to plan trips with long drives at the beginning and not at the end. The trip back was BRUTAL. Mostly because we just wanted to be home, but it was going to take over 2,000+ miles to get there!

Instead of documenting every step, I'll give you the condensed version:

All times are listed in the Central Time Zone (so we left Quilcene at 7am, but it was 5am local time) And other times are listed as when we entered the state

Quilcene: 7am Monday
     Stopped at Krispy Kreme for breakfast in Tacoma
     Stopped at Taco Time in Spokane Valley for lunch

Idaho: 2:25pm (7.5 hours to get across Washington)
   
Montana: 3:30pm (1 hour to get across Idaho)
     Stopped at Jimmy Johns in Bozeman for dinner

North Dakota: 2:45am Tuesday (11.25 hours to get across Montana!)
     Stopped at McDonalds in Fargo for breakfast

Minnesota: 8:30am (5.75 hours to get across North Dakota)
     Stopped at Chik-Fil-A in Minneapolis for lunch

Wisconsin: 1:20pm (3 hours to get across Minnesota)

Illinois: 5:30pm (4 hours to get across Wisconsin)

Home: 7:30pm (2 hours to get home in Illinois)

THAT IS 36.5 HOURS TO GET HOME. UGH.

Here are some fun photos from the ride home:

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge

Snuggles abound

TACO TIME!!

Even between pups!

The Virgin Mary overlooking a town in Montana

Max is not amused

Beautiful landscape

Emily enjoying the beautiful landscape

We were riding alongside a lot of racing trucks headed to their next race in Minnesota!

The full moon kept me company most of the night

The sunrise was beautiful! 

Everyone was still asleep...

Here's what the rooftop carrier looked like once we got home. GROSS!

Many, many bugs gave their lives so that we could go to Washington and back!

Day 9 - Our last day together

Today started slow and easy as most mornings do here. 

Emily, Pete and Max just chillin'

The tide was out so Peter, Emily and I decided to check out the water with the large beach exposed.  It was really fun until the kids got way out there and Emily got stuck half way up her shin! I had to go out there and rescue her, but it wasn't easy. Stepping on oyster shells helped stop the quicksand effect...but it was freaky!

All the exposed oyster shells!

Chillin' on the porch swing for a moment.

We decided one last hot tub visit was in order, so everyone climbed in for a selfie!

I am so bad at group selfies!

Two of the boys

My goofy kids. I love them!

When we got back up to the house, Steve and Emily worked on a puzzle they'd found in the basement (spoiler alert...they didn't get to finish it before it was time to leave, but not without Emily trying as hard as she could!)

We also played our last game of Risk before Andy had to go. And what a game it was! We will finish this epic game eventually.

We made steak and mushrooms for our last meal together and enjoyed more of the cheesecake I had made while Andy organized his stuff getting ready to leave.

After one last gathering of the family for a photo (they humor me so), Andy was on his way back home.

Peter saying goodbye *snif*

After Andy left, I realized that I hadn't really taken photos of the place before now, so I ran around the house documenting just how nice the house is!

Outside:

The road side of the house as you approach it. So cute!

A great place for taking photos

HOT TUB!!!!!

The door at the end took you into the dining area

Main Level:

The kitchen with passthroughs to the dining area

The dining area

From the dining area out to the bay side deck

The view

The bay side deck

Back into the family room where Steve was trying to
finish the puzzle!

Main level bathroom next to Em's bedroom

Em's bedroom (with a view of the bay)

Stairs up to our room

Main entry bench

The view as you walk into the cabin

Stairs down to the basement.

The basement:

More stairs down to the basement

One of the basement bedrooms

Lots of beds!

The basement bathroom

The view of the bay from the basement
(the swing is right outside)

Laundry room!

Pete's bed (in front of the TV of course)

The back bedroom under the dining area. Andy slept here.

There were two beds.

Back upstairs

Continuing up to the top floor

View of our car from the top floor

The Master Suite:

Entryway to our bedroom

Our messy bedroom

God bless the fans!

View out our window

A rocking chair for reflection

Our not-so-messy bedroom now

It was lovely waking up to this view!

Our bathroom

The view from our bathroom window.

The place also had a fun rope climbing thing that was actually very hard to navigate.

Sadly, the last photo I took at the house is of the puzzle and as far as we got. So hard to walk away from an unfinished puzzle...